Last Call
by Kyra5972
Summary: She had always been his last call, but it was slowly killing her. Now it’s their last call.


**Title:** Last Call

**Author:** Kyra

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of the characters from Leverage! Though, I wouldn't mind owning Eliot or Parker… The song used is 'Last Call' by Lee Ann Womack, I don't own it either.

**Summary:** She had always been his last call, but it was slowly killing her. Now it's their last call.

**Pairing:** Teeny tiny bit of Nate/Sophie.

**Spoilers:** None for this one, I don't think.

**Warnings:** None.

**A/N:** I heard this song the other day and it made me think of Sophie and Nate. The fic turned out a bit different from what I had planned when I first got the idea, but I think I really like how it turned out. Let me know what you think.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sophie leaned against the living room door jam and laughed as she watched Eliot, Parker and Hardison fight over the remote control like children. It had gotten to be something of a tradition for them to get together once a week. Eliot would make dinner for them and they would all sit down to watch TV or a movie or battle it out on one of the gaming consoles, sometimes they even pulled out a regular, old fashioned board game. The only one to ever not show up was Nate. Sometimes he gave an excuse and sometimes not, but he never showed up two weeks in a row.

Sophie's cell phone rang and she reached into her pocket to pull it out, her laughter dying as Nate's number flashed across the screen. Staring down at the small, ringing device, Sophie felt her heart rate pick up as it always did when it came to anything Nate-related. Biting her lip softly, Sophie shook her head with a sigh and hit the button to silence the call before tucking the cell phone back into her pocket. Looking up, she saw that the other three had paused in their efforts to seize control of the remote and were looking at her curiously. She simply shook her head and gave them a sad smile, realization flashing through their eyes momentarily.

The melancholy moment was broken as Parker made a lunge for the remote, Eliot catching her around the waist and preventing her from claiming the coveted prize.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Nate frowned as the ringing on the other end of the phone went to voicemail. Quickly leaving a message, he flipped his phone closed and wondered why Sophie hadn't answered; she always answered. He stared at the phone in confusion as he idly swirled the glass of Johnny Walker Red he had in his other hand. A second later, he downed what was left in the glass and signaled the bartender for a refill.

"That's it, Buddy, no more alcohol," the bartender said as he pushed Nate's drink across the counter to him.

Nate made a sound of acknowledgement as he passed the bartender the money he owed. He took a sip of his drink and turned to look around the bar. The light was dim and the air was smoky, there were a couple of pool tables set up in the back of the room and an old juke box in the corner that was playing some country song. And other than Nate, the place was pretty much empty; a couple of guys were finishing up a game of pool and there were a few stragglers finishing of the last of their drink. Nate took another drink as he watched a couple of servers start wiping down tables and putting chairs up.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sophie felt her phone buzz in her pocket and pulled it out just far enough to see that she had a new voicemail before slipping it back into her pocket. She didn't need to listen to it to know what it said; it was always the same thing. Nate would call, needing a ride home from some bar or another, and normally she would go pick him up, but not this time, she'd had enough of that.

Every time, he'd call, and she'd hear the same things, things she'd _love_ to hear under any other circumstances. Things like, he loved her. He'd tell her just how much he loved her and all the reasons why. Under any other circumstances, she would love to hear those words. Instead, the only time she heard them was when he was drunk, and it always felt like her heart was being ripped out and the world was ending when she did. She heard the words and they _hurt_ because she knew that come the next morning, Nate either wouldn't remember he had said them or he'd act like it never happened, not even acknowledging the fact that she had picked him up. And the words just didn't mean a damn thing when he said them to her with whiskey on his breath. But, _God_, she would love to hear him say it sober. Sadly, though, the only love she ever gets from him is what he says when he's drunk.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Nate looked down at his phone, willing it to ring and Sophie to call him back. When a few minutes passed and nothing had happened, he debated calling Sophie again, finally deciding against it and setting his phone back down on the counter as he took another drink of his alcohol. He just shrugged when the bartender sent him annoyed look; by this time he was the only person left in the bar.

Nate leaned against the bar and closed his eyes, letting the sound of the country music from the juke box wash over him as he tried to figure out why Sophie hadn't answered his call. He'd try calling someone else, but he'd already tried the rest of the team and all of their phones were turned off for the night. Not that he was surprised by that, they always turned their phone off for what had become known as "family night," Sophie being the only exception. And she wasn't answering.

Nate sighed when he opened his eyes to see the bartender glaring at him. Silently, he picked up his phone and redialed Sophie's number, hoping that maybe she just hadn't heard it ring the first time around.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sophie reached down and pulled her phone from her pocket as it started ringing again, glancing down and sighing as she saw that it was Nate again. She pressed the button to silence the call once more and simply stared down at the phone in her hand for a moment, chewing lightly at her lip as she debated with herself. Finally reaching a decision, she flipped the phone open and held down the 'end call' button until the phone powered down. It was time to realize that things were never going to go anywhere with Nate and that she needed to move on. Dancing around the issue when he was sober and sitting around waiting for his call when he wasn't just wasn't cutting it anymore. She couldn't hold on if he wouldn't give her anything to hold on to. She had always been his last call, and now this was their last call.

Sophie stared at the blank screen for a moment before closing the phone and setting it pointedly on the end table. She turned back to the game of 'Clue' that was half set up on the living room coffee table, the four of them having finally decided to just play a game when no one could manage to keep the remote for longer than thirty seconds at a time. She ignored the sympathetic looks the others sent her and turned her attention back to finishing setting up the game.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Nate sighed as he got Sophie's voicemail once again. Flipping the phone closed he looked down at his glass of Johnny Walker and noticed it was almost gone. He swirled the liquid in the glass for a moment, watching as the light caught the liquid. Sighing once again, Nate threw back the last of the drink and picked up his phone to call Sophie once more before he was thrown out of the bar.

His face fell as it went straight to voicemail this time, not even ringing once. She had turned her phone off. She had never done that before, she'd always been there for him when he needed her. When he was too damn drunk to drive himself home and he'd spent all his money on alcohol and couldn't afford a cab.

Stumbling to his feet, Nate looked sadly at his phone before he turned toward the door, wondering how he was going to get home. He jumped at the sound of flesh hitting the bar counter and turned to look at the bartender. Confusion crossed his face as the bartender pushed some cash across the counter.

"For a cab," the man said. "I don't need to open the paper tomorrow or turn on the news to find out that you got killed because you were too damn drunk to defend yourself or you managed to stumble your way into traffic. Now go home and sleep this off."

Nate just nodded as he picked up the money and stumbled his way to the door and outside, managing to hail a cab without falling into the street. When he got home, she stumbled his way inside and to his room, flopping down face-first onto his bed, not even bothering to undress. Moments later, he had passed out cold.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sophie laughed out loud as Parker tried to insist that it had been "Eliot, in the alley, with his hands."

"That's not even an option, Parker!" Eliot exclaimed. "I'm not a suspect!"

"Why not?" Parker asked curiously. "It makes sense. If anyone was going to kill anyone, it would be you. And you don't like guns, so that wouldn't be the weapon. But you do like hitting people, so your hands would make a logical murder weapon. And you'd do it in the alley so you wouldn't have to worry about getting blood in the house. Why isn't that the answer? It makes sense."

"It can't be Eliot because he's not one of the game characters," Hardison explained. "It can only be someone from the game, in one of the rooms on the board, with one of the weapons from the game."

"But Eliot makes much more sense!" Parker protested causing Eliot to throw his hands up in exasperation and Hardison to smother a grin.

Sophie didn't bother trying to hide her amusement and laughed openly at Parker and Eliot as they continued to bicker over whether or not Eliot was a viable suspect.

This was her family and she loved them. Nate too, but she refused to be the one to pick him up whenever he fell anymore; she just couldn't do it. It was mentally exhausting. And if she ever wanted to move on with her life, she couldn't be his last call anymore.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_I recognized your number  
__It's burned into my brain  
__Felt my heart beating faster  
__Every time it rang  
__Some things never change  
__That's why I didn't answer_

_I bet you're in a bar  
__Listening to a country song  
__Glass of Johnny Walker Red  
__With no one to take you home_

_They're probably closing down  
__Saying, "No more alcohol"  
__I bet you're in a bar  
__'Cause I'm always your last call_

_I don't need to check that message  
__I know what it says  
__"Baby, I still love you"  
__Don't mean nothing when there's whiskey on your breath  
__That's the only love I get  
__So if you're calling_

_I bet you're in a bar  
__Listening to a cheatin' song  
__Glass of Johnny Walker Red  
__With no one to take you home_

_They're probably closing down  
__Saying, "No more alcohol"  
__I bet you're in bar  
__'Cause I'm always your last_

_Call me crazy but  
__I think maybe  
__We've had our last call_

_I bet you're in a bar  
__It's always the same old song  
__That Johnny Walker Red  
__By now it's almost gone_

_But baby, I won't be there  
__To catch you when you fall  
__I bet you're in bar  
__'Cause I'm always your last call_

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

**Well, I hope you liked it. I heard the song a while back and it totally struck me as a Sophie/Nate song. This wasn't quite what I had in mind when I got the idea, originally it was just going to be Nate and Sophie and Sophie was going to leave the team at the end. But I really like how it turned out and I think it worked better this way. Please, please, please leave a review and let me know what you think.**

**~ Kyra**


End file.
